Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Guest Author Interview - Lee Mavin

In today's guest author interview we are joined by Lee Mavin:

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
I'm Lee J Mavin, displaced Aussie stranded in the east. I am teaching grade one and grade four English in Shanghai. I also write as much fiction and poetry as I can in my spare time. I don't know how I've done it, but Ive managed to polish off a children's novel, a collection of poetry and a collection of short stories, with a bossy little three year old tugging at my trousers and my wife distracting me.

What first inspired you to start writing?
Roald Dahl and my third grade teacher, when he said, 'This story is cool!'

You write poetry and prose, do you prefer writing one to the other?
Recently, I've been pumping out the prose but it depends on my mood. I get in poetry moods all the time when I'm stuck in the subway, squashed up against twenty five million other depressed souls. Though it sounds way better to be known as a novelist, than a poet, unless you are trying to impress a lady friend.For a taste of my poetry check out www.allpoetry.com/leejmavin

Does writing in both forms help you write in the other?
I hope so. I try to squeeze poetry into my fiction whenever I can. Some of the characters in my stories are wanabe poets too. I have stopped rhyming in my poetry too, rhyming just makes me remember the days when I was an underground rapper, churning out astonishing EPs. Oh wait, that never happened, that was also another character in one of my stories.

If you could write anybody's biography, whose would it be?
A dead heat between Lebron James and Sylvia Plath. Now aren't they contrasting perspectives!

What is your favourite song lyric?
(Buck 65)
The words written on my hand are hard to say
A game of solitaire with no card to play
Paper airplane so far away

Do you have a favourite place in which to write?
Any quiet place that serves real coffee i.e my staffroom when all the other teachers have lessons.

What are you working on at the moment?
The third volume of my series 'The Students Sold Us Secrets' and my first novel for adults 'The Unfinished Beer'

Tell us about your latest work and how you can find out more
The Students Sold Us Secrets Volume One was published in May by ASJ Publishers. It is a collection of short stories that delve into the minds of the sick and twisted aspirations of children in Shanghai. You will be shocked to find out the extremes they go to in order to get what they want.